I had intended to write this Monday, but I was busy and didn’t get much work done Monday. Then, I didn’t get any sleep Monday night, so I was running at half my mental capacity and feeling sick, which meant that I didn’t get anything done but watch a few movies, during which I periodically dozed. Now that I’m feeling less ill and I’ve gotten a good night’s rest, it’s time to give you the bad news. I’m going to shut Dread Sonnets and Other Grim Folly down. The blog is not well frequented and I posted all of the poetry of Grim Folly, which is what I set out to do. I don’t think I can keep this blog going any longer because there’s not enough interest in my poetry for this blog to sustain itself. Now for the good news. I still love writing and sharing my writing, so I will be shifting it all over to my other blog, The Abyssal Vault. I’ve decided that I want to consolidate my web presence. Initially, I wanted to keep The Abyssal Vault and Dread Sonnets and Other Grim Folly separate because they appeal to different audiences, but I’ve since realized that those audiences are not mutually exclusive and I might garner more readers on The Abyssal Vault, which has many more visitors. Since blogging is time consuming and frequently personal, I want to focus all my efforts on The Abyssal Vault, which can serve as a better representative of who I am, lover of literature and movies, writer of poetry and reviews. So if you’ve liked my work here, please start visiting or subscribe to The Abyssal Vault. I will begin restructuring that site to include the work I’ve posted here and I will begin to post writing stuff there from now on.

Just to let you all know, Dread Sonnets is now free to download at Amazon.com. Please download it, read it, and/or tell others to download it because the offer only stands until Tuesday night. I’d also like to remind everyone that even if you don’t have a Kindle or a Kindle program on a smart phone or iPad, you can still download the Kindle program for your computer for free from the Amazon website. Hope you like the book and I will continue to make posts about it for the next couple days; otherwise, reviews go back on schedule. Hurrah!

It’s been a while since I’ve posted a poem, so here is a poem I wrote today, “Laurels.”

A bay leaf wreath wrapped around my head,
The vine-twined crown that binds and boasts my prowess,
It glows garden green, sharp and sweet-smelling,
Whose odor honors victors, eke me and else,
A daring dream freed, from idle thoughts unlocked,
Whose sap glues my many sentences together and tethers
Unheard slurred words to sound and syntax, becomes
One, stuck to my head and mind, a long sought
Never garnered goal and halo to deem me worthy
Of angelic applause, and I lust greedily for the green wreath
Pure, pungent, and panegyric, because I fear
Time’s dissolution and distrust words to last
Longer than a laureate crown or my body.

Dread Sonnets, my book of horror poetry, is now up on Amazon. You should be able to find it in any of the Amazon websites; I checked a few sites and saw that it was on the US, UK, Italy, and Germany versions of Amazon. I did not see it on Amazon Canada for some reason, however. I’m hoping it will be forthcoming or that my Canadian readers can buy from the US site. The book is currently $0.99, £0.77, and 0.89 euros, depending on where you live. However, if you would like to get a free copy of the book, and who wouldn’t, I will be giving it away for free for three days, starting this Sunday. Tell your friends, family, neighbors, and literate pets. If you do buy and read the book, please post a customer review on Amazon because a few good reviews could mean the difference between selling a hundred ebooks or selling none. The book is also available on Amazon’s lending library if you have Amazon Prime, which means you can borrow it for free even after the free giveaway. If you’re wondering why I’m giving Dread Sonnets away for free, I’m doing it out of the altruistic goodness of my heart…and because every ebook downloaded or borrowed causes it to rise in the search rankings; the higher it is in the rankings, the larger the audience I can reach. I hope you all enjoy the book.

Sorry for not posting anything in a while, but I’ve been working the past several days on putting together an ebook to publish on Amazon. The book is called Dread Sonnets and it’s a book of horror poetry, specifically a sonnet sequence that explores various forms of fear, from surreal, abstract dread to visceral horror and disgust. The book is set to go up sometime tomorrow morning. For those of you who are groaning at the idea of buying my book of poetry, I plan on releasing it for free for five days, as soon as I can do so. If you don’t have a Kindle, you can still install the program on your computer for free and get Dread Sonnets for free. If the promise of a free ebook isn’t enough to entice you, I don’t know what will. Oh, and that adorable/creepy thing up there is the cover of my book. Who can guess what the central figure is supposed to be?

Tonight’s post is a little shorter than the last one, but I think it ends in a nice place. For those of you just tuning in, the first part of the novella/short story starts here. I really need to come up with a title for this.

—

“Hey there Alexis, fancy meeting you here. I didn’t know you went out to parties. No, I mean, I’ve never seen you out at these parties before. Um, so what’s up?”

“Nothing much. We just got here a little while ago.”

“Cool, cool. We’ve been in and out of the house for a while now. I waved to you, but I don’t think you saw me. Heh.” Brad shrugged his shoulders sheepishly.

Alexis had a crush on Brad stemming from the time they spent as lab partners in chemistry class. He’d been polite and charming, but their relationship never progressed past lab partners; Alexis was too nervous to say anything and Brad either wasn’t interested or was also too nervous to make a move. They hadn’t spent any time together since they’d shared chemistry class; they only traded greetings if they passed each other in the halls. Tabitha was hoping to break the ice at this party and she had enlisted the help of Brad’s best friend, Jacob to do so; Tabitha was attracted to Jacob, so it seemed like a win-win situation to her.

“So anyway, I like your skirt. It looks nice.”

“Aww, thanks. That’s sweet.”

Tabitha elbowed Alexis in the ribs; the irony wasn’t lost on her.

“Can I get you a drink?” Jacob offered to Alexis.

“Sure, I’d love one. What do they have?”

“How does a margarita sound?”

“Sure. Great.”

Brad made a motion to stand with Jacob, but Jacob waved him off. “Don’t worry man, I’ll get it. You just stay here with Alexis.” He flashed a wry smile.

“I’ll be back in a minute,” Tabitha said, patting Alexis on the back.

“So Alexis, what do you have going on this weekend?”

“Not much. I might have a quiz in English on Julius Caesar and I need to start shopping for my Halloween costume.”

“What are you going as?”

“Maybe a witch. Maybe Little Red Riding Hood.”

“Only if I get to be the Big Bad Wolf.”

Alexis laughed aloud.

“What’s so funny?” Jacob asked, a margarita glass in hand.

“Nothing. Thanks for the margarita. Haven’t had one in forever.”

“Be careful. I mixed a lot of alcohol with it.”

“Phew, no kidding. My head’s swimming already.”

In spite of his warning, Alexis took a few indulgent gulps. Unlike the nondescript beer, the margarita was giving her an instant buzz. Jacob mumbled about forgetting something and left Alexis along with Brad again.

“Wow, your friend knows how to mix a drink. I don’t think I’m going to be able to walk soon.”

“Don’t worry, you’re with me. I’ll help you walk if you need to.”

As the two conversed, Alexis started to become ill. Her stomach roiled and she began to feel lightheaded. It felt like the room had begun to rock beneath her. Her mind started to get muddy.

“Hey, um, um, Brad, I think I need to lay down or something. Where’s Tabitha?”

“It’s okay. You’re okay. We’ll just walk you over to the nearest bedroom. You’ve just had a little too much to drink is all.”

“No, she needs some rest in her bed. Alex, I’m going to sneak you into your room. It’s probably that crappy Chinese food and beer you drank. You’re not allergic to MSG are you?”

“Not ‘llergic,” Alexis slurred.

“Come on. Don’t be a bitch. Let her stay,” one of Brad and Jacob’s friends said.

“Fuck you, man. She’s sick and I’m taking her home. Out of my way.”

Tabitha helped Alexis stand and took her to the front door. Alexis was having trouble standing and her breathing had become shallow, labored. She nearly fell when Tabitha opened the car door to let her in, but she managed to put herself into the seat in spite of her trembling limbs.

“You look really sick, Alex. I don’t know what was in the shrimp sui mai you ate, but it did not mix with that alcohol. You don’t need to worry. I’ll get you home to your parents and we’ll say that it was the bad Chinese food and they won’t even know you were drinking at a party. Alex. Alex, talk to me.”

Alexis managed to mumble a few incomprehensible syllables, but she was having trouble paying attention. She slumped against the car door and looked out the window. Streetlamps with garish yellow lights passed by, one by one. The silver moon shone through the black branches of the trees. The last thing she saw before she closed her eyes and passed out was the figure on the neighborhood watch sign, a man in a black trenchcoat and fedora with white slits for eyes, leering down at her.